Italian Language/past participle / auxiliary verb

“Data la situazione, non partivo.”
Given the situation, I did not leave.

I am wondering about the use of the past participle “data” in this sentence. Would I be correct to think that the past participle “data” is being used as a “preposition” in this sentence? The reason I ask this question is because I have learned that the English past participle “given” is being used as a "preposition" in the English version of this sentence. I was wondering if this was also true in Italian.

If this is true, can you please tell me if there are any other Italian participles (past participles and/or present participles) that can be used as prepositions.

I am also wondering about the translation of “non partivo” as “I did not leave”. It is my understanding that the auxiliary verb “did” must be present in the English version of this sentence in order to express negation. I just wanted to make sure that I am correct to think that this is not also true in Italian.

Am I correct to think that a form of “to do” is not required in Italian in order to express negation?

Thank you so much for all of your great help.

Very Sincerely,

Rich

ANSWER: Dear Rich,

In the sentence “Data la situazione, non partivo” or better “Data la situazione, non partii” (with the “passato remoto” instead of the “imperfetto” ) the past participle “data” (in the feminine singular referring to the feminine noun ”situazione”) is not used as a “preposition” like in English, where the past participle “given” is being used as a "preposition" in the English version of this sentence.

Thank you for your help with this question. I hope that you will not mind a follow-up question.

I do not understand why “essere” has been used as the auxiliary verb in the sentence - “Essendo data la situazione, non partii”. My dictionary and my verb book about conjugation both indicate that “avere” is the auxiliary verb that should be used with “dare”.

Can you please explain why “essere” is used as the auxiliary verb with “dare” in this sentence.

Thank you very, very much.

Sincerely,

Rich

AnswerDear Rich,

The verb “essere” has been used as the auxiliary verb in the sentence - “Essendo data la situazione, non partii”, whose current form is “Data la situazione, non partii”, simply because “essendo data” is the PASSIVE voice of the present gerund of the verb “dare” whose auxiliary verb is “avere” in the ACTIVE voice.